Royals trade Vin Mazzaro to Pirates for 2 minor league pitchers

The Kansas City Royals have turned around a disappointing arm in the hope of striking gold with another one (of two). The team has traded Vin Mazzaro along with Clint Robinson to the Pittsburgh Pirates for two young minor league pitchers after Mazzaro's frustrating turn with the franchise, according to Rob Biertempfel.

At one point, Mazzaro was a hopeful for the rotation in the David DeJesus deal with the Oakland Athletics. However, Mazzaro was never anything more than a Quadruple-A pitcher who floated between the major league staff and the Omaha Royals as well as the rotation and bullpen. At any turn, he wasn't very impressive.

Mazzaro spent 2 seasons in the Royals farm system with a 5-4 record and 6.72 ERA to show for it. The hope was that his 4.27 ERA in 18 starts for the A's the year before coming over would equal some consistency in the starting five, but it never worked out. Now Dayton Moore hopes that his last flip of a disappointing pitcher turns into another Jonathan Sanchez for Jeremy Guthrie situation.

As for the return, the Royals gain two arms: Luis Rico and Luis Santos. Rico is a 19-year-old lefty who has struggled with control in rookie ball. Santos is the more promising of the two 21-year-old starter, but he's in his second season at the rookie level, so it's hard to project how that will play out. This year, Santos was 6-3 with a 2.44 ERA in 12 starts with 74 strikeouts in 62 innings.